013 - The Web Planet

Broadcast:

13^th February - 20^th March 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

Zarbi

Written by:

Bill Strutton

Director:

Richard Martin

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

12.5m (13.5, 12.5, 12.5, 13, 12, 11.5)

Summary: The travellers get caught up in a battle between species on a planet where evolution has favoured the insect world. To save themselves they must help the invading resistance forces.

By coincidence, ahead of watching The Web Planet I read a discussion about least favourite Doctor Who serials and was surprised how often it was mentioned. I could see that it might be disliked because of the experimental lens effect on exterior shots but I couldn't remember anything else that could garner such a response, though I did have a nagging apprehension about it that I couldn't place. It is clearly a story that divides fans as its viewing figures were still very good (the first episode set a new record that wouldn't be matched for ten years) but the Appreciation Index started at 56%, higher than the previous serial, but decreased each week ending on a poor 42% - the lowest ever recorded. The DVD production subtitles quotes a lot from the audience reaction research and it is clear once again that the show was ahead of its time. There will always be people who moan about the little things but it was evident that the audience just didn't understand the story and found it confusing or hard to follow. One BBC executive only saw the fifth episode and complained that it felt like he needed to have watched all the episodes to understand it... which is surely the point of a six part serialised adventure!

The news of the time again reminds us that society was at a turning point with major civil rights marches taking place and leading to violent clashes in Alabama. Controversial activist Malcolm X was assassinated, 3500 US Marines became the first active American troops in Vietnam, while Gambia was given independence from the UK. On the lighter side of things, Canada's new flag was inaugurated, Goldie the golden eagle escaped from London Zoo for 12 days, and Luxembourg won the Eurovision Song Contest (beating Great Britain by just 6 points). There was cause for cheers when Alexey Leonov became the first man to walk in space, but sadness at the deaths of Nat King Cole and Stan Laurel. In the charts, The Kinks had their second number one with "Tired Of Waiting For You" followed by the year's biggest seller "I'll Never Find Another You" by The Seekers. Tom Jones's debut single "It's Not Unusual" went to number one and the Rolling Stones had their third chart topper with "The Last Time" (which it wasn't!) In the cinemas were Lord Tom, Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors starring Peter Cushing and Roy Castle who would shortly appear in the first Dalek movie, and Kiss Me, Stupid.

When we left the Doctor at the end of The Romans, the TARDIS had materialised unexpectedly and was instantly being dragged down by some kind of force...

010 - The Dalek Invasion Of Earth

Broadcast:

21^st November - 26^th December 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

Richard Martin

Music:

Francis Chagrin

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

11.9m (11.4, 12.4, 11.9, 11.9, 11.4, 12.4)

Summary: In the year 2164, the Daleks have invaded Earth (England) wiping out much of the population with a plague and converted suitable survivors into Roboman slaves. As they dig to the Earth's core only a small resistance group and the TARDIS travellers stand in their way.

This was it, the big rematch that cemented Doctor Who as a continuing success that could run for many years. The Daleks had ensured the show's initial success a year earlier and allowed production to continue to the full intended series when it was the second serial broadcast. Now it was the dastardly dustbins time to return in the second series, again in the second serial slot, and really work their magic. This kind of 'sequel' was practically unheard of at the time but their initial success let the production team know that they were onto a winner and The Dalek Invasion Of Earth was soon lined up for commission. What followed became known as Dalekmania, like Beatlemania before it the country would be swept away with enthusiasm, merchandise and a couple of films. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Although The Dalek Invasion Of Earth spanned six weeks, there is very little news to report in setting the scene. Kenya became a republic exactly a year after gaining independence from the UK and the Beatles earned their second Christmas number one with "I Feel Fine". Other number ones included The Supremes "Baby Love" and The Rolling Stones "Little Red Rooster" (But not The Go-Go's "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek" which failed to chart!) In the cinemas were two contrasting films Black Sabbath and Mary Poppins. Two events that are worth noting but of which the public would not have been aware are the abduction and murder of 10 year old Lesley Ann Downey - the fourth moors murders victim (the second having been 12 year old John Kilbride, rather poignantly for Doctor Who fans, in the early evening of 23 November 1963) Police began their search on 26th December but it would be another year before the perpetrators were identified. Something else that would have its own impact but a delayed awareness, and strangely relevant to The Dalek Invasion Of Earth was the first flight of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a secret aeroplane built for stealth and speed with unusual triangular wings, it would lead to reports of UFO sightings in America and feed the belief that aliens were out there and on their way!

Meanwhile, in Doctor Who, they were already here...

003 - The Edge Of Destruction

Broadcast:

8^th - 15^th February 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

??

Written by:

David Whitaker

Director:

Richard Martin, Frank Cox

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

10.2m (10.4, 9.9)

Summary: The TARDIS falters, the travellers are knocked unconscious and everything goes hazy and a little confusing as they turn on each other. There's an eerie silence, clock faces are melting and the TARDIS doors open and close on their own!

To set the scene, Robin Dixon and Tony Nash have just won a gold medal for Two-Man Bobsleigh at the Innsbruck Winter Olympics - the first British medal of any colour for 12 years and there wouldn't be another until the games returned to Innsbruck 12 years later! Britain and France have just agreed a deal to construct a channel tunnel (though construction wouldn't start for another 10 years and would barely commence before being closed down and a successful project was another decade away). The Beatles have just brought Beatlemania to America and the Searchers remain at number one in the UK chart with "Needles And Pins" for the two week duration of The Edge Of Destruction. Meanwhile between episodes, Southampton became the first town granted City Status by Queen Elizabeth II. And the day after the story finished, a curtain Christopher Ecclestone was born!

002 - The Daleks

Broadcast:

21^st December 1963 - 1^st February 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

Christopher Barry, Richard Martin

Music:

Tristram Cary

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

8.97m (6.9, 6.4, 8.9, 9.9, 9.9, 10.4, 10.4)

Summary: A petrified forest, pacifist farmers and mutants determined to wipe them out. A post apocalyptic tale where nuclear threat is still a reality. The travellers find themselves stuck on a radiation soaked planet, captured by one faction and determined to help the other.

Doctor Who has gained reasonable interest so far and while the world has come to terms with the loss of JFK the Cold War is very much still weighing it down. As 1963 draws to a close The Beatles are still at No. 1 with "I Want To Hold Your Hand" followed by "Glad All Over" (Dave Clark Five) and "Needles And Pins" (Searchers). At the cinema are It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Pink Panther. On television, satirical comedy show That Was the Week That Was came to an end after two years (to avoid any clashes with the coming years general election), and Top Of The Pops was broadcast for the first time and would run for 42 years. Sticking with music television, viewers who stayed with BBC Television after episode 5 of The Daleks would have seen Carole Anne Ford on the panel of Jukebox Jury!

Audiences didn't know it, but they were about to meet the most enduring adversaries the Doctor would ever face. Even as the second episode was broadcast and the Daleks made their first appearance the BBC's Head Of Drama, Sydney Newman, still wasn't convinced - Verity Lambert had assured him that there really was no choice but to use them and their story because nothing else was ready. It wouldn't be long before he graciously admitted to being wrong and the shows future was assured by the huge success of this story...